Alexander Kristoff won his second stage of this year’s Tour de France.

Bas Czerwinski / European Pressphoto Agency

By IAN AUSTEN

July 20, 2014

NÎMES, France — The contrast could not have been greater. Jack Bauer was slumped against a railing, apparently in tears, teammates patting his back. Nearby, Alexander Kristoff was receiving hugs of congratulations for his second stage win of this year’s Tour de France.

Bauer, a New Zealander who rides for Garmin-Sharp, was part of a two-man breakaway for almost the entirety of Sunday’s 138-mile Stage 15, which cut across southern France from Tallard to Nîmes.

Having endured a fierce rainstorm and been pushed along by fierce winds, Bauer dropped the other rider in the breakaway, Martin Elmiger of Switzerland, in the final run to the finish line.

But at just about the point when riders typically start thinking about zipping up their jerseys for the victory photos, the Tour showed it has no pity. Bauer looked to his side and saw a group that included Kristoff and three other sprint experts, Peter Sagan, André Greipel and Heinrich Haussler.

After seven more surging pedal strokes by Kristoff, Bauer went from dreams of a stage victory to 10th place.

Even Kristoff, who finished first in 4 hours 56 minutes 43 seconds, seemed surprised by the final turn of events.

“It was a little bit too late for comfort,” Kristoff, who rides for Katusha and is the only Norwegian competing at the Tour, said of his sprint effort. “I thought it might be for second place.”

For Bauer, who slumped to the ground, crying, with his hands on his helmet, there was little in the way of a consolation prize. Even the largely subjective award for most combative rider, which allows its winner to wear a special red and white race number the next day, went to Elmiger, of IAM Cycling.

Bauer’s job normally is to support Garmin-Sharp’s star riders — a domestique, in cycling jargon — rather than chase wins. But on Sunday, his orders from his team were to join the first break, which turned out to be much smaller than he expected.

“I am normally in the service of others, so this was my first chance to really be up the road,” Bauer said. “It was just a dream that didn’t quite come true today. But that’s bike racing. That’s sport.”

Many of the riders in the pack, however, were more focused on surviving than fulfilling their dreams. The stage, which took the Tour out of the Alps and set it on its way to the Pyrenees, included a series of twists and turns in the streets of Nîmes leading to the finish that created chaos for the chasing pack and for teams setting up their sprinters for their final moves. And a cross tailwind aided the breakaway riders but made the stage a struggle for many in the pack.

Several teams, BMC among them, forced the pace in the hopes of breaking up the main group into diagonal lines of riders seeking to draft, known as echelons. That prospect, which could have benefited Tejay van Garderen, BMC’s leader, who is in fifth, concerned Vincenzo Nibali, the overall race leader.

“I was scared of possible echelons,” he said after the race. “I didn’t want to be caught by surprise.”

BMC failed to break up the pack, although Nibali, just to be sure, zipped to the front and rode with the BMC riders.

Many at the back of the pack were less fortunate. Ji Cheng, the first Chinese rider to enter the Tour, repeatedly came on and off the group. Eventually there was no return. Ji, who rides for Giant-Shimano, finished the day last, in 171st place, crossing the finish 12:20 after Kristoff.

More embarrassing, Richie Porte, the Australian leader of Team Sky, became detached with about 40 miles left. He finished 70th, 16 seconds behind the main pack of riders, who were given the same time as Kristoff.

Nibali finished in the main pack to head into Monday, the Tour’s final rest day, with his 4:37 lead intact. The race has already featured some unexpected twists, but teams will most likely spend that time working out strategies for earning a stage win rather than plotting Nibali’s downfall.